Page 76 of Fearless Fourteen (Stephanie Plum 14)

I looked over at him. “Is that a proposal?”

There was total silence for a couple beats. “I'm not sure. It just popped out.”

“Let me know when you're sure.”

“Would you say yes?” Morelli asked.

“I'm not sure.”

“I bet I could convince you it would be a good thing,” Morelli said. “How about taking a look at my assets?”

Oh good grief.

It took us about twenty minutes in the alley behind the bonds office to appreciate his assets. When we finally returned to his house, all the lights were blazing and two squad cars were angle-parked at his curb. Morelli slid to a stop, and we hit the sidewalk at a run.

“What's going on?” he said to the cop at the door.

“Your houseguest heard someone break in and called 911.”

Zook was standing in the hall, hanging on to Bob's collar. “Right after you left, I heard someone at the back door,” Zook said. “Bob heard them, too, and he started barking, and he never barks if it's someone he knows, so I grabbed Bob and brought him into my room, and then I locked my door and called 911. I put all my lights off and looked out the window at the backyard, and just before the first police car showed up, I saw two men run out of the house and across the yard.”

“What did they look like?” Morelli asked.

“I don't know. Just average. I couldn't see. It was real dark. But one of them had a shovel.”

“You have forced entry on the back door,” one of the cops said to Morelli.

“And the basement door was open. Other than that, everything seems okay.”

After everyone left, Morelli walked through the house, checking windows and doors. He searched the basement, the closets, all nooks and crannies and under the beds.

“Tomorrow we get the alarm system up and running,” he said.

Morelli took his cereal bowl and coffee mug to the sink. “I'm going to take a look at Stanley Zero this morning. Do you have any plans?”

; “I'm doing laundry.”

“That's pretty exciting.”

“I'm washing sheets,” I told him.

Morelli slid an arm around me and kissed my neck. “I love when you talk about sheets.”

Now, here's the thing I like about Morelli. There's a lot of variety to his sexiness. He can be hot, he can be funny, he can be loving, he can be short on time and hungry. This morning, he was playful.

“Would you like to know what I'm going to do to you tonight when you slide between those sheets?” I asked him.

The depth of his eyes instantly changed, and he left playful behind. “Yeah,” he said. “I'd like to know.”

“You have to wait.”

“I'm not good at waiting.”

“No kidding!”

Morelli broke out in a wide grin. “Have I just been insulted?”